Avenida Menendez Seawall

Seawall ConstructionSt. Augustine, Florida

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In the historic city of St. Augustine, in order to preserve the original coquina seawall, which was begun by the Spanish in 1696, south of the Castillo de San Marcos fort, and the original wall being completed (in the section we rehabilitated) between 1833 and 1844 by graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, our company undertook the immense task of preserving 1240 lineal-feet of existing seawall and improving the drainage issues that plagued the area.

Working closely with the City of St. Augustine personnel, we constructed a replacement seawall twelve feet out into the water from the existing seawall, implementing cofferdams and sheet piling, and filled in the gap between with a new paved walkway, a pedestrian promenade, under which a new drainage system was installed in order to combat the flooding conditions which occurred in the surrounding historic waterfront neighborhood when the old seawall was breached. New street lights, preserving the old-time gas light fixture appeal, and landscaping and railings were also installed. Taylor Engineering, Inc. was the engineer of record for this project.

The $6.7 million project was funded by the City of St. Augustine and FEMA and was completed in February 2014. The site received a Public Works Project of the Year Award in 2015 for Historical Restoration/Preservation.